Page 19 of Uncharmed

Annie exhaled loudly, tapping her foot as she began to think. ‘Maeve, not to be a total bore, but I am going to have to tell the coven about this. They’re not great fans of anomalies in the magic system and you certainly are a rare one.’

‘Is that your polite way of calling me a pain in the . . .’

‘I think it’s the best thing to do here,’ Annie spoke loudly over her, hoping that assertiveness would give the illusion that she knew what she was doing. ‘I’m not sure they realize quite how haywire your magic is. She’s not going to like it, but . . .’

Annie paused for a moment, wriggled her shoulder pads back into place and closed her eyes in concentration. A crackle of magic popped between her fingers and, moments later, Morena appeared like a storm cloud in front of a flowering red rhododendron to their right. Maeve stumbled back into the bushes with shock, hand flying to her mouth.

‘Shit!’

Morena squinted slightly at the brightness and, once she’d adjusted to her new location, stared stony-faced from Annie to Maeve and back again.

‘Thank you for that most bracing welcome, Miss Cadmus. I shall be sure to greet you in the same way next time our paths cross,’ Morena said as she adjusted her cloak over her crisp shirt. She turned her attention to Annie with raised eyebrows. ‘Well?’

Annie rushed to her. ‘Morena, you know I would never, ever request a summoned transference from you unless it was absolutely necessary.’

‘I should hope not. And to this universe-forsaken realm, of all of them? This had better be very, very good, Andromeda.’

‘It’s more the direct opposite.’ Annie hesitated. ‘I fear this may be very, very bad.’

‘I know you,’ Maeve interrupted as she approached Morena with a pointed finger, the orange-shaped Jessica clutched in her other hand. ‘You bought me that big old book for my birthday, with your small sister.’

‘Yes, I’m rather like a fairy godmother in that way, aren’t I?’ Morena’s mouth pursed so tightly that her lipstick turned to a small circle. ‘Except you would never catch me dead in that atrocious uniform. Andromeda, what exactly is the quandary here?’

Annie froze, unsure of where to start, then gave a breathy laugh. ‘Honestly, you’re never going to believe it . . .’

‘I set the canteen on fire, cut the power, caused an earthquake and then turned Jessica into an orange,’ Maeve interrupted, handing the piece of fruit over to Morena.

Morena didn’t move for a moment, then with a resigned sigh took a pair of glasses from the inside pocket of her cloak and placed them on the end of her nose. She accepted the orange to examine it in fine detail. ‘Andromeda, do you mean to tell me that this citrus fruit is in fact a non-wicche student?’

‘Like I said, she deserved it,’ Maeve muttered under her breath.

‘She’s not entirely wrong about that,’ Annie said, glowing when she received a small, secretive smile from Maeve for her camaraderie, which almost made the whole thing worth it. ‘And, looking back, it was a rather impressive series of events, if not an ideal one. We may have quite a special witch on our hands.’

At that, Maeve beamed.

‘A special witch is of absolutely no use to me if she is going to give Selcouth days’ worth of complex and dreary memory reset work. Not to mention the fact that teenagers are particularly tricky to magically manipulate, what with all the hormones flying around,’ Morena drawled.

‘What can I do to help?’ Annie asked, a hand to her forehead. ‘Morena, it’s all my fault. I should have removed Maeve more quickly, as soon as I sensed that things were going south. My intuition was a little . . . squiffy at the school.’

‘Squiffy indeed. Miss Cadmus, will you excuse us for a moment? Take your orange for a walk,’ Morena said, handing Jessica back. Maeve wandered a few paces away with a sniff and a scuff of her shoes against the pavement.

Morena turned to Annie with a flourish of her cloak. ‘To be frank, Andromeda, the most helpful thing that can be done about this mess is to swiftly remove Miss Cadmus. Not only is it highly dangerous to her, particularly if there seems to be some sort of affinity towards fire of all things,’ she tutted. ‘But there remains a huge exposure risk until her powers are under control.’

‘I can take her to my house?’ Annie offered, but instantly regretted it. It was a habit of hers, suggesting solutions that she then prayed would not be accepted. She thought of her bathroom, stocked to the rafters with highly potent potion ingredients, not to mention her midnight Splendidus Infernum ritual, which, for all she knew, could run amok with an unpredictable magical presence in the vicinity. Plus there was Karma, who hated spontaneous visitors and would have to be bribed with inordinate amounts of custard. Annie felt a tidal wave of relief when Morena shook her head.

‘Absolutely not. London is far too populated. And neutral ground is a better choice, given the unpredictability of her powers. Selcouth will provide emergency accommodation for the two of you.’

Annie’s heart began to patter at an unsteady rhythm. ‘Accommodation? For us both?’ Panic started to lace its way through her veins with a cold, icy trail.

‘I regret to say that this shall be more of a nannying role than initially anticipated. A live-in companionship for the time being, so that you may monitor her closely,’ Morena said, pacing while she considered. ‘It may be a rather all-encompassing role. I personally cannot think of anything more frightful.’ She visibly shuddered.

Being sent away, somewhere unknown, with full responsibility for Maeve, felt terrifying for many, many reasons. Annie actually felt a wave of nausea at the prospect. Her thoughts began to run away from her. Being away from home, her finely tuned routine thrown into disarray, her diary descending into chaos. Dates began to jumble, plans began to criss-cross, her head ached. How would she keep everything running perfectly, just as it was supposed to? What would she have to let go of?

‘For how long?’ Annie gulped, earning only an unconcerned shrug in return.

‘Until we see satisfactory improvements.’

There was Celeste to think about – although at least she could trust Faye and Pari to man the fort temporarily. Perhaps she could bake at long distance, transfer the goods by magic? But her precious, important time spent at the Sorciety would surely have to be put on hold. As she saw her Crescent status fade further into the distance, Annie felt as though she was dangling from a ladder above a vortex and each rung at her feet was beginning to break away.